Masquerade (1965 film)

Masquerade is a 1965 British comedy thriller film directed by Basil Dearden based on the 1954 novel Castle Minerva by Victor Canning. It stars Cliff Robertson and Jack Hawkins and was filmed in Spain.

Plot
An Arab heir plots his own kidnapping in a desperate bid for peace in the Middle East.

Cast

 * Cliff Robertson as David Frazer
 * Jack Hawkins as Colonel Drexel
 * Marisa Mell as Sophie
 * Michel Piccoli as George Sarrassin
 * Bill Fraser as Dunwoody
 * Charles Gray as Benson
 * John Le Mesurier as Sir Robert
 * Felix Aylmer as Henrickson
 * Ernest Clark as Minister
 * Tutte Lemkow as Paviot
 * Keith Pyott as Gustave

Production
Rex Harrison was originally meant to star but he dropped out and Cliff Robertson was hired to replace him. The film was the first screen credit for novelist William Goldman who had been hired to Americanise the dialogue for Robertson (Robertson had just commissioned Goldman to adapt Flowers for Algernon into a screenplay).

Filming started on 3 June 1964 at Pinewood Studios under the title The Shabby Tiger. The unit then shifted to Madrid.

Robertson's work on the film meant he had to turn down an offered part in Judith.